Gov. Bush & his mystical buddy

Sunday

Sep 18, 2005 at 12:01 AM

After more than an hour of solemn ceremony naming Rep. Marco Rubio, R-West Miami, as the 2007-08 House speaker, Gov. Jeb Bush stepped to the podium in the House chamber last week and told a short story about "unleashing Chang," his "mystical warrior" friend.
Here are Bush's words, spoken before hundreds of lawmakers and politicians:
''Chang is a mystical warrior. Chang is somebody who believes in conservative principles, believes in entrepreneurial capitalism, believes in moral values that underpin a free society.
''I rely on Chang with great regularity in my public life. He has been by my side and sometimes I let him down. But Chang, this mystical warrior, has never let me down.''
Bush then unsheathed a golden sword and gave it to Rubio as a gift.
''I'm going to bestow to you the sword of a great conservative warrior,'' he said, as the crowd roared.
The crowd, however, could be excused for not understanding Bush's enigmatic foray into the realm of Eastern mysticism.
We're here to help.
In a 1989 Washington Post article on the politics of tennis, former President George Bush was quoted as threatening to ''unleash Chang'' as a means of intimidating other players.
The saying was apparently quite popular with Gov. Bush's father, and referred to a legendary warrior named Chang who was called upon to settle political disputes in Chinese dynasties of yore.
The phrase has evolved, under Gov. Jeb Bush's use, to mean the need to fix conflicts or disagreements over an issue. Faced with a stalemate, the governor apparently "unleashes Chang" as a rhetorical device, signaling it's time to stop arguing and start agreeing.
No word on if Rubio will unleash Chang, or the sword, as he faces squabbles in the future.
Let freedom ring
One of the more heavily lobbied issues in the 2006 Legislature is likely to be the proposal to change the way Florida regulates mail-order wine sales.
Court rulings have invalidated the state's existing law, which bans out-of-state wineries from selling directly to Florida consumers.
The California wine industry is leading the lobbying effort to put Florida among the group of states that allows consumers to buy directly from out-of-state wineries.
But they are meeting resistance from Florida liquor wholesalers and package stores that now largely control the sales.
Florida has several choices to make the state law meet the federal constitutional standards cited by the court rulings. They all come down to treating all the wineries the same. Under the old Florida law, in-state wineries were allowed to sell directly to consumers, while out-of-state firms were banned.
Among the options lawmakers are now looking at are: allowing all wineries to have direct sales; banning all direct sales from wineries; allowing wineries to sell to consumers but putting a limit on those sales.
Some opponents claim allowing direct winery sales could increase underage drinking in the state.
Gov. Bush said he too is concerned about underage drinking, but he also made it clear this week he continues to support the effort to allow out-of-state wineries to sell their goods in Florida. It dovetails with his overall political philosophy of encouraging free enterprise.
''I think we ought to let freedom ring,'' Bush said.
"You can't ignore the (court) ruling that took place,'' he said. "We're making recommendations to the Legislature going forward to change our law to adopt to the ruling that took place."
Bush said there was nothing new about his support for out-of-state wine sales. "That's been my position for a long time," he said.
Compiled from reports by Joe Follick and Lloyd Dunkelberger of the Sun Tallahassee Bureau.